The House of Hades
by M0RKIESTAR
Summary: I tried my best. This is my first fanfic! Hope you like it! There is extremely mild swearing, though! Illustration from DeviantArt, by pockybug. Round of applause for her!
1. Chapter 1: Percy

PERCY

The world was a grey blur as Percy fell into eternity.

It happened too fast. _Or it happened too slow,_ Percy thought. _Can eternity take any longer? _He would sooner die of boredom.

A thud, a crack, a yelp; it all happened in slow motion as he and Annabeth hit the bottom, hard.

"Percy," she groaned. "Can you get up? I can't."

"Don't ask me," Percy replied, grateful that Annabeth wasn't dead. "I think my nose is broken. And my hand."

"I broke a rib, I think."

"This feels worse than Hades."

"I think we passed him thirty miles ago."

We laughed nervously at that.

Percy opened his eyes. Not that there was much to see. Cold fog covered the air like paint. Annabeth could probably explain why it's so thick. _Tartarus,_ he reminded himself, _can't even be explained by a genius_. Albert Einstein would probably crack his skull over that...

He finally mustered enough strength to get up. The ground was mushy and soft, almost soft enough for you to start sinking, like the muskeg. He shivered at the thought, and for moment it felt like he was suffocating.

"Annabeth?"

"Here," she said.

I pinpointed her voice, until I stepped on a hand.

"Ow! Don't break my hand, too," she yelped lightly. Annabeth pulled a flashlight out of her backpack. "I found my backpack. It was lying near me." she paused. "Tartarus is weird, 'cause it's like time is in a trance. This flashlight will never go out until we reach the surface, and you don't need to eat or drink down here."

"How do you know?" My girlfriend was smart, but Tartarus gave me the creeps. _Creeps,_ I thought, dazed._ Arachne could be back._ No, there would be worse. I tried not to think about it.

"I did some research on it. You know, Daedalus's laptop."

"Being me, I think I don't know."

She chuckled.

We had some ambrosia 'n necter. I knew the meaning of 'food of the gods' now. Down here, in a place without gods...

Tartarus had a aura of dread to it. The hairs on my neck stood straight, like one of those black cat decorations for Halloween. _Isn't there a superstition on that? _If there was, than certainly he had walked past a black cat.

"Watch out, Tartarus plays tricks on you..."

Annabeth packed her backpack fast. The faster we walked the sooner we reached the surface. Hopefully, that was how it worked down here. Hopefully.

We walked off without a word. We walked off into a dark wilderness.


	2. Chapter 2: Hazel

HAZEL

A blanket of misery hung over the ship, like the thunder clouds that hung over us. Everyone was either angry or bitter or just plain mopey.

Piper was one of the angry ones. She used a very twisted version of her charmspeak when she was angry. If she yelled "Leave me alone!", you would definetely leave her alone. Or worse, if she yelled "Go to hell!" you would see the pits of hell rushing at you. It was worse for Nico and I because we actually knew what hell looked like.

Jason was a sort of mix. He was the cause of the constant rainfall and lightning, while he walked the deck, all mopey. I guess being disciplined doesn't apply when your buddies fall to the pits of Tartarus.

And Frank and Nico just dragged their feet, snapping at anybody that disturbed their routine. It was worse for Nico, that was obvious. Frank would turn into a bird and patrol, while Nico would stand by the mast and relive his time in Tartarus.

Leo looked even worse, because in front of us all, he would be himself, all jokes and smirks. The biggest difference was the energy in his laugh, and the sadness in his smirk. It was sadder when he was 'alone'. He would mumble to himself, and when he worked with the gears, his eyes would glaze over like the fact that Annabeth usaully helped out there. On the other hand, he also worked harder on different projects, like he was trying to make up for Annabeth not being there.

But finally it was time to break it to Camp Half-Blood. Jason turned the rain to a drizzle, and let sunlight come in, creating a rainbow. Piper threw the drachma it and said the words.

Chiron and the heads of the cabins came to view, discussing the looming threat of Romans.

Everyone straighted their posture, when Chiron caught sight of them.

"Any advice?" Malcolm said.

"Where's Percy and Annabeth?" Connor asked.

Leo stuttered out, "P-P-Percy a-and A-Annabeth f-f-f-f-f-"

Hazel muttered, "They fell into Tartarus."

"No!"

"What happened?"

"What?"

"No!"

Chiron calmed everybody down. He sounded calm, but you could see the panic in his eyes. "Start from the beginning."

We told him the story fast.

"Nico, are they dead?" Chiron asked.

"No."

"That means we have hope yet."

Chiron saying those words relaxed everyone, and they raised their eyes from the ground. They closed their eyes in prayer. It wouldn't help, no god could live in Tartarus, especially when the gods are having constant Greek/Roman headaches.

Lou Ellen lifted her hand, and muttered a few words. Two banners appeared behind Chiron. One was a banner with a trident on it, the other had an owl. Percy and Annabeth.

"We must think of them, but we have our own challeges now. The Romans are attacking, we need to stop the brewing war." Chiron declared.

At that, Jason's back straightened and he said, "I have an idea."

"You're going to turn your back on your family?"

"No. But I can't let my family attack my friends, no matter how much they might not like me afterward."

I was starting to see why Annabeth found him so annoyingly honorable.

"So what's your plan?" I asked. "Why didn't you explain it too us first?"

"Well... Nico and I have been talking..."

"About what?"

"We might have to split up..."

I felt like knockng his head in.


	3. Chapter 3: Jason

JASON

After about 10 minutes, I was covered in banana mush and the situation was solved. I lost. We were not splitting up.

Leo was running around like, "Bananas win!", while throwing all the banana peels of the bananas he threw at me around the deck. I had a feeling he had more coffee this morning than usual. I also had a feeling that Coach Hedge was going to make me clean it up because I LOST.

Crap. Whatever.

Nico dragged me aside. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean?"

"I never talked to you on anything! I was going to talk to you today, but you lied!"

Creepy kid... "But I had to do it to convince them!"

"What the heck?"

"Forget it."

"Fine. Whatever. I'll tell everyone about what I was going to talk to you about later, after I figure it all out."

"Okay, I'm fine with that."

With that he walked away.

Jason headed to his bunk. His eyelids drooped. The whole argument had taken it out of him, and the encounter with Nico, too.

He knew his dreams were going to be bad. He felt the creeping tingle in his bones, and it scared him.

He squirmed in bed. The thought of Percy and Annabeth's long fall haunted him. He tried to see how he would feel if he were in their place. Falling without flying... It was terrible.

Finally he fell asleep. He saw the exact moment Percy let go of his ledge. He saw them disappear into darkness. Then the darkness that clouded the pit started to take shape. It was Gaia, and another face. This face had only eyes.

Gaia's was looking as ugly as ever. But it was not that that scared Jason. It was her eyes. They were not open yet, but they were opening. Millennia of eye crust was flaking away, and her eyes seemed almost open.

"Ah, young hero, you see your friends falling to their doom? I have a feeling their blood will be perfect," she rasped, "for their blood will be full of love and what could be more powerful than destroying such young love? Oh, yes, it shall definitely awaken me."

Gaia was scary, and was always going to be scary, so I didn't want to ask who the other guy was. My stupid curiosity drove me on, anyway. "Who is he?"

"He is the one who will take your friends through the worst journey of their short lives. He, young hero, is the the spirit of Tartarus, father of my giants." With that, she tried to open her eyes, but it was like the eyelids were sewn together. She screamed, like it hurt, "Just two more demigods, young hero! And I already have them!"

And the she dissipated into mist.


	4. Chapter 4: Annabeth

**Hey! REally short chappie, peeps!**

* * *

ANNABETH

Percy wasn't acting right. I mean, no one could act right down here in Tartarus, but still. Something was off, other than the excess of cold sweat.

We had been walking the whole day, sorry, twelve hours. Whispers seemed to emit from the ground, making my frame shake with fear. The whispers were loud enough to be heard, but soft enough to not be legible.

Then Percy collapsed. He groaned, and heaved the contents of his empty stomach on the ground.

"Percy, what's wrong?" I said, as I dropped to the ground.

He finally stopped, his eyes glazed over. "Nothing."

"And you expect me to believe that, after you failed at throwing up?"

He blinked, then relented. "It is something."

"You think I can figure it all out by myself?"

"You are Annabeth," he replied with a weak smile. "You probably have the highest IQ in the world."

"Just tell me."

"Well, I have a feeling he's taking revenge on me-"

"Kronos."

"Ye-" His voice caught.

It all clicked in tiny whispers. Kronos's million pieces. Luke die. We in Tartarus, where Kronos million pieces went. Holy Styx.

I hypothesized, the whispers probably affected people differently.

Oh, god. But the gods weren't here.

I pulled out the Athena coin. Or were they?

The light of the coin seemed to repel away the darkness. Yes!

Percy got up. We walked onwards.


	5. Chapter 5: Percy

**So, peeps, I know I write short chappies, but I'm working on it. You'll soon realize I like to switch POVs a lot.**

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PERCY

I definetely wasn't going to tell Annabeth how close I was to spilling my insides on the floor. She already had too much on her mind.

I remembered that voice, before we left saying "Watch out, Tartarus plays tricks on you..." Well, it sounded too much like one of those creepy clowns, second only to monsters and the horrifiying use of ketchup on chocolate ice cream. I tried that once, and the results weren't pretty. Annabeth was still making fun of my 'dramatic chocking' before I disappered.

Then we made a wrong turn. The light of the coin sputtered out, leaving us only with a flashlight. It also brought back Kronos's mad gibbering nonsense, though I did my best to ignore it, despite the pressure.

But that wasn't the bad part. There was a golden glow from the center of the room. There was also something funny about the constant jabbering...

Annabeth also seemed affected now. We stepped closer, and a wave of malevolent thoughts washed over us.

All Kronos could think of now was:_ kill, die, chance, hurt, rule, glory, loss, pain, pain, pain, pain..._ And when he heard me it was: _him, die, cut, kill, kill, kill, kill_. And then, and abrupt cutoff, faint echoes, and then his thoughts would continue.

That golden glow didn't come from anywhere. It came from a chunk of flesh on the floor, glowing gold. An golden eye and a bit of skin to either side.

Funny thing was it didn't look like Kronos. He was in the skin of the one he died in... Luke.

_Kill, death, kill, kill, stupid demigod, kill, kill, kill._ Then he heard something... no!

"How?" I asked to myself, not aware that I spoke aloud.

"Luke didn't die."

"He didn't go to Elysium."

"We have to free him."

Percy wasn't a genius, but he was smart to know you would spontaniously combust if you 1) See a god, etc. show their true form or 2) Touch one at the wrong time. And this seemed to be a pretty bad time.

She must of seen the doubt on my face, because she said, "The coin should protect me. I should be safe."

Still I came with her. This time you could see it. His eyes flashed blue, one split moment.

_Annabeth? Percy? What? No!_

The thought hit me, and my mind went numb. _Just stay with Annabeth, just stay with Annabeth, don't let her die._ I shivered.

The coin hit him straight in the eye. The glibber became a screech.

The coin burst into silver dust, and Annabeth whipped back her hand. The silver dust formed a glowing owl on the ground, then the owl flew away on nonexistant wind.

Suddenly, it seemed as if Luke came out of the remain. Above, a blinking gold eye was a Luke in the armor he died in. He seemed to be in blissful peace, then seemed to realize where he was. No, correction, where we were.

"Annabeth? Percy? What are you doing her-"

And then he vanished, and went off to the fields of Aspodel.


	6. Chapter 6: WP: Clarisse

**Hey peeps! I'm going to have chapters like this every once in a while... this one is going to be continued, but my mom is calling me. So, enjoy!**

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WAR PREPERATION

_Clarisse_

Camp Half-Blood was looking violent. No- we looked scared.

Even I could admit that. Even though we are outnumbered, that doesn't matter. But we are going to be spilling the blood of half-bloods, like us. Being me, that doesn't matter much, but it still is a persistent thorn.

There was always a contant drill going on with the saytrs and the Demeter cabin, like the were going to make Octavian a tree before the night was over. Wooden arrows flew from Apollo cabin, and the Hephaestus cabin were rolling large cannons into the sunlight. The Hermes cabin was by the lake practicing everything. The minor god's children were all in the court, practicing their powers. Even Drew was challanging the rest of her cabin to sword fights. That meant something was really wrong. My cabin, as usual, was running around and attacking each other and I joined in happily.

Athena's children were muttering quiet prayers for Annabeth and Percy, while working for long hours on major battle plans. For a few minutes I'd went went over there earlier, and I'd barely got half of what they were saying, despite being the daughter of Ares. My idea of war was charge, defeat, kill, victory! Not the complicated stuff the Athena kids were doing, even if I got the base of it.

The hunters of Artemis had come, too, and they were of shooting animals in the woods. It was not a good time to be venturing into the woods.

And with Percy and Annabeth missing, it was looking much, much worse.

People had weapons strapped all over them. We had raided the weapon shed a few days earlier, and know everyone had there own arsenal.

On my waist was a greatsword, a xiphos, a short sword, four daggers of various size, a gun, and so many celestial bronze bullets, you can't count them all. I also had a bronze club and a sheild strapped across my back.

Two days ago, the cyclops had sent us a shipment of weapons. It was a huge crate full of weapons, and it had a shield for everyone. The also sent us a large variety of ammo for the cannons. Some of them shot poison, or were spike balls, or turned into greek fire in mid-air. They also had ones that shot fishnets, and Tyson put a note with those:

**DO NOT SHOOT INTO WATER. YOU CAN KILL RAINBOW.**

Like we were going to. In other terms, we had so much weapons the Athena cabin couldn't count them.

Yet still, in my mind, I saw the Romans marching toward us, two-hundred strong. And I saw us crushed underfoot, like we were nothing but ants.

Clarisse LaRue refuses to become that puny ant.


	7. Chapter 7: WP: Reyna

**Hey people! More War prep below... I'll get back to the original story line next chappie!**

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WAR PREPARATIONS

_Reyna_

There is always a time when my godly side sees the preparation for war, and gives me an odd satisfaction, despite war's horrors. But as I watched my legion preparre, I could only feel the twisting of my stomach.

The legions were drilling. The fifth cohort was drilling, too, but there was a definite resistance in their unsynchronized movements and their sagging postures.

But it was not them I was thinking of, but the Greeks. Now, the Roman army at war is the most scary thing most soldiers saw before they fell in the oldern days. But I have a feeling that we were going out to meet our match, and that many kids would die before the battle was over. We needed peace, not war, with the threat of Gaia hanging over us like a storm cloud.

We had the advantages of numbers, but they had various other advantages.

For one, their Vulcan cabin kids probably would shoot Greek fire at us, or acid. Maybe even fishnets, which we wouldn't dare do, because of our fear of water. Them on the other hand...

They also had skilled fighters that had there own will. We had excellent fighters, but we had to hope that most of them were not even half as good swordsmen as Percy.

But I watched the drills, saw Octavian flick the trigger every Roman has for battle. And despite my status, I could only stand by and watch.

But I have a plan. And it's almost time.


	8. Chapter 8: Hazel

**So people, back to the main story, starting off with Hazel.**

**Also bad news, I have a feeling I'll only be able to post on weekends.**

**Enjoy the Chapter!**

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HAZEL

I walked the deck quietly, observing everyone. There was a light Jason- induced rain shower falling on our shoulder, and Jason himself was at the mast with Piper. They looked like they were from that new movie about the Titanic crash a few decades ago. No, a century ago.

Frank was busy listening to his iLeo, and humming quietly, off-tune. Basically an iLeo was a radio thing that you put in your ear. You could also ask it questions, and it would get the the answer really fast off the internet. Hazel didn't really get the internet much, but she knew that the device connected to mortal (.com), god (.bowtome), Underworld (.diehere), and monster (.allpunydemigodsmustdie) internet. In other words, she didn't get it.

Leo, on the other hand, was at the wheel clicking random buttons. Apparently he knew what he was doing because we didn't fall to Earth and die a slow, slow death. That was a good thing.

We were all surprised then when Nico called a meeting. The last I checked he was crying out in his sleep.

We sluggishly moved below the deck, to the meeting room below.

Nico's eyes scanned the room as he unfolded a dusty beach chair. Coach Hedge was there too, but he was engrossed in a playback of a football game he probably watched a billion times.

"So..." Nico started, somewhat casually. "Camp Half-Blood is in trouble."

No one objected.

"We have to head back there and help them."

He was repeating everything everyone else already thought about.

"Leo, can you get us there faster?"

"Umm... yeah, I think so. I finished some of An- my plans. The engine can now go faster. Like, umm... it'll take four days to get there. Yeah?"  
I took a very fast note on how much he was stuttering.

"Let's hope the battle doesn't begin too soon. Also, the statue?"

"What does anybody think we should do with it?" I asked.

"We need to figure out what it does." Jason said. I shot him an annoyed glance. He acted like was a normal conversation. I also looked at Leo, who was eating a small banana. I had a feeling he had more on his lap.

"I called everyone down because I know what we needed to do with it."

Rest of us: "What?"

Frank: "Jinx."

Leo: "Sorry but the Jinx machine is out of order, you owe me a quarter."

Frank: "Ah, come on!"

Leo: "Oh, Canadians!" Frank gave him an evil look. It wasn't very evil looking, either.

"Stop it, both of you!" I scolded them.

"You were saying?" Leo said, drawing attention away from that very immature conversation.

"Well... a few years back, when I just started my Underworld visits, I met a man. He was wandering the fields of Asphodel and he had forgotten every thing of his past life, except this story. I think he was an Athenian, because his story involved the Athena Parthenos. I don't remember much of his story, I didn't think it was important at the time, but it went like this...

"Everyone knows that the Parthenon was sacred to Athena. But no one now knows this, but Athena sometimes came to the Parthenon herself, into the Athena Parthenos.

"I'm sure, what he said was that every century or so, someone could get the chance to pass the seven tests of Athena, which were umm... seven tests. If you passed she would grant you something you need."

"Umm... seven tests?" Jason asked.

"Yeah."

"Umm... okay."

"I think though it needs to be in a sacred place, for it to happen. Camp Half-Blood will do."

"So we go to Camp Half-Blood, make peace, then do some Athenian tests?" I asked.

"Pretty much."

Frank chuckled nervously. "So when are we leaving?"

Leo replied, "Right now."


	9. Chapter 9: Jason

**Hey people! I got, like zero comments on my last chapter, so here's the deal. I post faster with more comments...**

**Enjoy the chapter! I also forgot the Disclaimer: I don't own any characters.**

**Thanks MonkeyGirl for your comments!**

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JASON

Jason felt it the moment they landed on water. Suddenly the smooth motion of flight became the choppy rocking of water, and his stomach roiled. He had to escape his room. He needed fresh air, even if it was tainted with salt.

Leo was trying to teach Hazel how to control the ship, but by her puzzled expression, she did not get a word he was saying.

Frank was shooting off arrows in the mini archery range. Every single arrow hit the target. He paused when he saw me. "Hey, Jason, are you ok?"

I realized I was clutching my stomach. "Yeah," I replied. "Fine."

He didn't look convinced.

"I'm fine. I swear."

He held out a puke-bag. "Just in case?"

"Fine." I took it from him.

Piper was next. She was sitting out on the far end staring out at sea. Her eyes softened when she saw me. Dried tears were on her face, but she made an effort to hide them.

"It's not your fault," I said. "It's this whole situation."

She looked down.

I sat down next to her and held her.

She pushed me away. "I'm fine."

That was my catchphrase. I looked down at the sea. It was pretty, but it was making me sick. I pulled out my puke-bag and my lunch that day came out the wrong way. I threw it away, and went to Leo.

"So the um... joystick controls were you go?"

"Finally! That and the wheel."

"Oh. What does the yellow screen show?"

"Nuclear and magic power levels."

"What?!" I popped my head in. "This ship is nuclear?!" I glanced around nervously, as if it was about to explode.

Leo looked surprised. "Um... yeah?"

I was about to remark, but then I remembered that Leo was a Vulcan kid. So instead I said, "You better not get us killed or you will get it."

He grinned, "I won't." He noticed my green face. "Sorry, dude."

"For what?"

"For landing on water. It saves energy, and the booster needs energy."

"It's OK."

"No, it's not."

"It's fine." My tone ended it.

A blue light started blinking. "Oh, no..."

He started tapping furiously at the touch screen. "Something's attacking by air."


	10. Chapter 10: Annabeth

**I feel so guilty! I haven't posted in huh...10 days! Nooo...**

**Anyway, I'm not gonna give you a long bawl fest. That can be saved for another day.**

**Enjoy!**

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ANNABETH

Percy kept trying to convince me that Tartarus couldn't be as bad as they say it is. No, it was much, much worse.

Percy hadn't been acting right since the Luke encounter. It worried me, but I hadn't been acting right either. I fingered the bronze knife on my hip.

Tartarus was more evil than anybody could know. The fog that covered the pit had cold fingers that pricked like electricity, and whispers that echoed loudly. But it wasn't just this that made Annabeth shiver.

A schoolteacher... her first-grade teacher. She was a kind teacher; she had a warm smile. She'd persisted in trying to teach Annabeth how to read, despite her severe dyslexia. She pulled back the memory from her recollection and thought about that teacher as she walked.

The playback of memory happened wrong. She went through the memory a couple of times, but the third time it was different.

_She looked up at her teacher as she pointed out a sentence. "How do you spell 'nothing' dear?" Annabeth had stuttered out, "N-A-H-T-N-I-G". She wanted to impress the teacher so bad. Mrs. Verna smiled. "Better than last time," she said._

But then something happened.

She changed, her eyes became one. Her clothes changed to bloody rags. That one eye gleamed with malicious intent. "Want a cookie?" she asked, and handed me a bloody cookie. Annabeth looked up and saw a red club before everything went dark.

I shivered. That wasn't how the memory went.

Percy was staring at me, looking very worried. "What happened?"

"Nothing," I said.

"Fooled me there."

Annabeth looked down. "It was nothing. I mean it."

"If you say," but it was obvious he hadn't dropped it.

The only thing we heard for the next twenty minutes was our breath.

Percy heard it first. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"That scratching."

Then I heard it. It wasn't that quiet, so Annabeth was shocked she hadn't heard it before. More of a slithery, scales on scales.

Two dracanae appeared. They were in full armor, and they both seemed larger than normal dracanae. Percy brought out his sword; Annabeth pulled out her knife.

Percy attacked the larger one.

_"You ssshall die Perssuess Jacksson," _she said in her reptilian voice.

The smaller one lunged at me. _"You too, Annabeth Chasse."_ I tell you, two super-sized snake-ladies lunging at you and your boyfriend is not fun. I stabbed her arm with my knife and withdrew fast.

Percy took of part of one 'leg' then attacked full on while the dracanae limped.

I took off the full arm, but it wasn't the sword arm. Then I saw it, the unsheilded spot on her neck. I stabbed her in the thigh, and in that moment she paused; I jumped and stabbed the spot. She exploded into golden dust. When I looked over, Percy had defeated his too.

We high-fived, then noticed something was wrong.

_Oh lord. I'm such an idiot._

Tartarus is where montsers go after we kill them. So...

The dracanae reformed in seconds. _"We sshall get you for that!"_ They slithered in unison.

We ran as fast as our feet could take us.


	11. Chapter 11: Percy

**I'm sorry about the late chapter... so I posted it.**

***BAWL-FEST***

**...**

**MonkeyGirl: I know... I'm such an idiot. I was going to do it earlier, but well... *sheepish face***

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PERCY

You could almost literally see her thinking. _I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot._

"You're not," I said.

She looked at me quizzically. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes, yes it is."

She sighed. "I feel off today."

"Well, you were fighting Arachne a bit earlier."

"Yeah," she said rubbing her head. "That must be it." She looked back. "Do you think we escaped them?"

On cue, a bunch of slithery hisses echoed past. "Nope."

"Well, that's reassuring."

"Well, it's either pressure or death. Which would you prefer?"

"Pressure."

"Same here."

Good thing we were both in shape. We kept on running. But finally we had to stop. "Gone yet?" I asked.

"Nope."

I sighed. _Stupid blood-thirsty superspeed-reforming monsters._

"Let's fight," I said. "We'll kill them and then keep running."

She looked up. "You sure? We're going to lose a lot of lead."

"Now that you mention it, not so sure." A overwhelming stick lingered in the air. A tunnel. "Do you smell that?"

"How can I not?"

"Do you think it will hide our scent?"

She got it. "Worth a try."

We dashed into the tunnel.

* * *

We lost the dracanae. The smell hurt our noses, but it was much better than not having noses. Or in that case, not having a body.

Annabeth and I stopped by the wall, in an area with less stink. We sat down.

"We need sleep," I muttered.

"I'll take first watch," Annabeth said somewhat enthusiasticaly.

I looked at her. She had bags under her eyes, but her eyes were gray steel with resolve.

"Fine," I replied as I closed my eyes. "I'll wake up soon."

* * *

Camp Half-Blood was grim. Weapons were everywhere, and cabins were making battle strategies with the Athenians.

My dream zoomed. I came upon a saytr. Grover. He turned around and his eyes widened. "P-Percy?"

"Course it's me. Empathy link, remember?"

He relaxed for a second. "Tartarus?" He asked more confidently.

I didn't want to tell him, but I did. "Yeah."

He looked down sullenly, "I heard." Then he perked his head up again. "Empathy link?"

"Yeah."

"Well that works too. I can communicate with you guys. Just don't die on me."

"I won't buddy, I won't."

He skipped over my answer. "What's happening?"

"We fell, we landed. Nothing above average."

"What monsters attacked?" He asked quickly, eyeing me.

"Oh, just one. Nothing much." Can't have Grover freaking out about me at this moment.

He tensed. "Something's not right," he muttered to himself. He looked up. "Did you lose them?" And then he muttered again almost to himself, "No, stupid question. He did lose them." Talking to me again: "Percy, be careful! Somthing's not right!"

"No duh. Me and Annabeth fell into Tartarus. That's perfectly nomal," I said to that, sarcasm dripping from my words.

He became even tenser, if that was possible. "No, but some monsters team up." He glanced away from me and continued talking. "Annabeth probably told you about the Cyclop's lair, right?"

"Yeah," I replied cautiously.

"Well, she was too young to understand the whole thing.

"We didn't have much of a lead on the monsters. Most of the monsters were a far way off, but many others were still chasing us. We killed the monsters and ran straight in the opposite direction. We escaped everytime, even if there was more monsters. We didn't know it was a trap.

"I got lost. We ran in the wrong direction so many times, I couldn't remember where the paths were.

"And then we got trapped in the Cyclop's den. When I was looking, I found a horde of the monsters that were chasing us. They were talking about the taste of demigod flesh, and well... you know. Luckily the didn't smell me, but I got captured by the Cyclops afterward. And then you know what happened...

"I told Thalia and L-Luke afterward. They both swore to secracy; we were not going to tell Annabeth. She was only seven..." He drifted off.

"And then the monster's caught up, right?"

"Yeah... And then Thalia got turned into a tree." He looked guilty.

"It's not your fault."

"It is."

"It's not."

He sighed. "Same old Percy. Let's not get into this again."

"Fine."

"Just... be careful Percy. Things are going to get dangerous fast."

And then the dream changed.

Gaia was smiling, amused._ "Little hero, I'm shocked that you're still alive. What a wonderful pawn you make."_

I gulped. "I'll never be your pawn!"

"_Your blood shall do. Yours and that child of Athena's. For what could be more powerful that true love?"_ She whispered mockingly. "_Love, as red as blood..."_

_She can kill me, but she is not going to touch a finger on Annabeth!_

Then suddenly a mouthless man emerged next to her. She faced him. "_When will he be born?"_

I didn't know how he responded, but Gaia was nodding, like she had heard something. Her smile grew.

_"Soon, I see." _She said._ "Soon."_

And then the man turned to me. He opened his mouth to speak. I gasped. His mouth was a gaping pit as deep as Tartarus.

And I woke up in nervous sweat.

I shook Annabeth violently. The minute I woke up, she dazed off into dreamland. "Come on, Wise Girl! Wake up."

"30 degrees; support structure should be in this pattern, not the generic one. Shut up, Bob! I know more about the architecture then you do! Heck, I'm the architect! I'm in charge! If you don't listen, it won't be perfect!"

_Oh great. She's having an architecture dream again. It's cute when she's napping on the couch, but not when an army of monsters might be chasing us._

"WAKE UP!"

She jolted awake and rubbed her eyes. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep."

"That all?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yup, that's all," I replied, matching her sarcasm.

"What actually happened?"

"Grover contacted me. The monsters are probably trying to well- Grover won't like this term- herd us." I decided to hold back the other stuff... and Gaia and the pit-guy.

"The empathy link works down here? Oh, sorry. Stupid question. I'm sleepy."

"Well, that obvious much?"

"Sure is," she grinned. "Wait, you're doing it again!"

"Doing what again?"

"Trying to make the situation lighter when it's not."

True, it wasn't a joke. "C'mon, we've got to hurry!"

We started walking, but picked up our pace when we heard a deep, throaty growl behind us.


	12. Chapter 12: Hazel

**Sorry for the long wait, here's a blue cookie: (::)**

**Oh, forget it. Cookies don't make up for 3 month long waits, even if they're Sally's blue cookies.**

**You probably want to kill me right? Well go ahead. (Though I do value my life, and I'd prefer you didn't kill me?)**

**OK, so I got grounded - for 1 1/2 months (or until my science project finished) and now I've got a writer's block. But still, I tried my best on this one. It was hard... expect a series of new stories to appear just to get rid of this writer's block...**

**And I really need help with this fic! If you know any interesting myths the Rick hasn't used yet, please comment on it! You don't have to explain the myth, I can find it myself.**

**R&R!**

* * *

HAZEL

The wind smelled of salt. It whipped at my face as I walked out of the captain's room.

I couldn't see anything in the sky. Meh. I'm a daughter of Pluto; I wouldn't feel anything in the sky.

On the other hand, Jason froze up immediately. "Something's attacking."

Leo snickered. "No duh! Did you think that my radars are wrong? I can't believe you were ever my friend. UH," he said dramatically as he pretended to sob.

One reason I wasn't dating Leo: he was loonier than Sammy. No joke; there's living proof in front of me.

Back to reality.

I scanned the sky and then... metal? Not any sort of metal I know. It seemed to be a mix of aluminum, steel, flint, iridium, silver, ruthenium, osmium, palladium...

You know what? Forget what I just said. You wouldn't know what I said because I don't even know what I said.

The metal seemed to be coming closer, closer. Suddenly Jason's eyes widened.

"Oh lord... Everybody, cover your skin! Something, anything!"

I knew I should just obey but, "Umm... why?"

He looked at me. "You'll know why when your flesh is tore off your body and eaten."

Wow. No need to be so harsh.

Piper was pulling out her dagger and wrapping a cloak around herself, tying it deathly tight. Nico was still in his room sleeping. Leo went into the command room. He was probably wondering which one of the ammunition would kill best. Frank just turned into a really scaly dragon.

I did the same thing as Piper. I drowned myself in cloth. For the exposed skin I tried something new. I coated the skin in a little metal. Not much, I still looked normal. I hated my curse, but at least I was safe from being eaten. Yay me.

The clouds cleared and I finally saw what Jason was pointing out. I mean, how could I miss it? There was a huge flock of 'metal' birds flying right above us. In seconds they pulled into a dive.

I pulled out my spatha and started to fight them off, but they came in hordes. It was like fighting water; more just came in and filled the place of the now-dead birds. I chopped off heads in quick succession, not wasting more than a second on a single bird.

Piper appeared next to me. Her hands were covered in deep peck marks. Ouch, that's got to hurt. She looked at me, "You okay?"

"Yeah," I responded. "But you need help," I said eying her hands.

She spared a glance. "It's not major. Afterwards." With that she disappeared in a crowd of Stymphalian death-birds.

I stabbed a few more in the eyes and saw Frank burning the stupid birds into over-cooked burned stuff. Whatever that's called. Anyway, he seemed to be the one killing the most birds here. The only problem was that he had his eyes shut tight, which meant that he was frying things randomly. Some of the wood on the deck was charred. I'm pretty sure that that's not good for us or the ship.

"Frank! Please can you try not to burn down the whole ship?"

Frank tried to say "No, that's Leo!", but being the huge dragon that he was it came out as, "Graw, grat gro!"

I looked at him. "WHAT?!"

He grumbled something along the lines of "Never mind," but it came out as a weird growl.

OK then...

I turned back to the birds, and then I felt it again. My mind was pinging like... like one of those gadget radar things that Leo used. The feeling was tremendous, I might add.

Then I suddenly realized that I had been feeling the metal all along, it's just... I was putting pieces together... Metal...

It filled into place. I looked frantically around the deck. People were going to get hurt if I did this wrong. So I yelled, "Take cover!"  
Nobody paused to take in and think about what I was saying. Frank turned back into a human (thank gods!). Then, they just ran and climbed underneath the deck. I joined them.

"What's happening?" Asked a very confused Nico.

"Death birds," replied Leo, who was holding a remote controller in his hand.

"Uh... I'm the son of Hades. Those aren't death birds."

"War birds then. They're the sacred bird of Ares," said Piper.

I looked over everyone in the group, then mumbled a quick "Stay here!" as I scrambled back through the opening.

"Hazel, what are you doing?!" Frank exclaimed. "Hazel?"

"I'll be back in a minute," I said as I shut the door. "Just wait."

The minute I stepped foot outside, I was assaulted by birds.

But this time I knew what to do.

I felt the pinging of all the metal around me, and I thought of pushing it into the ocean.

Instantly, the birds stopped still in midair.

From what I could now tell, there were over 700 of them.

I thought of all the metal descending into the sea below them.

The birds thrashed, trying to get out of my grip, but I wasn't gonna let that happen.

I felt a rush of power, and finally the stupid birds succumbed. Water hit my face as the birds fell into the ocean in huge clusters. I held them down until the metal felt dead.

I released.

I ran back and I opened the door. "I'll explain," I said as I got overwhelmed with questions.


End file.
